Monday 16 May 2016

Bronze age saws

Well before Lie Nielsen, Bad Axe Tools Works, Disston saws, any of the Sheffield saw makers and indeed long before iron had been discovered any idea how our ancestors cut wood? They used Bronze.
I was recently in Crete and visited a museum in Heraklion and stumbled across this exhibit containing bronze age wood working tools.
The saws I guess were around 5 to 6 feet in length and looked around 1/4" thick. The ends had holes bored probably for wooden handles and the saws were intended for 2 man use. The tooth profile appeared to be cross cut without any fleam. Indeed the label with the exhibit also said it was a crosscut saw.
How the profile was cut was anybodies guess as iron hadn't been discovered at that stage.

There were a number of saws all in remarkable condition considering their age which was from around 1700BC - around 3700 years old.

I wonder how many Disston saws will be around in another 3600 years time.

3 bronze saws